Shelby County Commission committee backs TBI investigation resolution

July 26, 2018 -The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and Memphis police respond to an officer-involved shooting late Wednesday night in Whitehaven. According to TBI, DMario Perkins, 29, was shot and later died at Regional One Medical Center.(Photo: Brad Vest/The Commercial Appeal)Buy Photo

A resolution backing state legislation that would require the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to investigate all officer-involved shootings resulting in critical injuries or fatalities got the endorsement of a Shelby County Commission committee on Wednesday.

Commissioners voted 8-4 in favor of the joint resolution with the Memphis City Council at the legislative affairs committee on Wednesday, after a discussion that centered on how “critical injuries” should be defined.

The approved resolution calls for TBI to define critical.

“If we don’t have a definition for critical, I don’t know when to make a call,” Memphis Police Department Director Mike Rallings said.

TBI investigates fatal officer-involved shootings currently, but the September shooting of Martavious Banks by Memphis police officers that critically injured Banks touched off talks locally about whether TBI’s involvement in officer-involved shootings in other agencies should be expanded.

Local supporters of the TBI resolution argue an independent agency should investigate officer-involved shootings, rather than local law enforcement agencies investigating their own officers.

Rallings doesn’t take issue with TBI investigating officer-involved shootings, but he also doesn’t see an issue with Memphis or Shelby County law enforcement investigating. Officers are held accountable for policy violations uncovered in internal investigations, Rallings said.

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said Wednesday he can support drawing in TBI involvement for officer-involved shootings resulting in critical injuries.

"I don’t think there’s anything wrong with an independent group doing the investigation, which TBI would be," Strickland said.

The county resolution will again go to the full commission for approval – commissioners referred the measure back to committee previously. The full Memphis City Council has yet to vote on the joint resolution.

Local officials widely condemned the DOJ's pullout announcement Friday, and have voiced a strong desire Wednesday to beef up local oversight to continue progress that was made under DOJ monitoring since 2012. Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris called the DOJ ending oversight last week "unexpected, abrupt and inconsistent" with his previous conversations with DOJ representatives.

That agreement was born from an investigation that found Shelby County was deficient in roughly 120 areas, including systemic discrimination against African-American children, unsafe confinement conditions and a failure to provide due process to children appearing for proceedings.

Jamie Munks covers Memphis city government and politics for The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at 901-529-2536, jamie.munks@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @journo_jamie_.